This is by no means a post burning MLG, but after getting to experience first hand an actual live MLG event I can now honestly say that the home viewing experience has a lot of advantages.
Here are the main reasons why I feel the home viewing experience is best: Negatives of the events: 1) Distance - Although I live a mere 3 hours away from Orlando, it's still a haul 2) Cost - Travel expenses (gas, hotel, meals etc), plus the cost of admission to the event 3) Seating - U leave U lose your seat 4) Matches - You only get 1 match at a time at the event 5) Commentary - If a player you are a fan of is not on the main stage then you don't get commentary
Positives of staying home: 1) Comfort of your own home 2) Costs nothing to watch if you want the normal stream and only a few bucks for the HD stream 3) Never have to worry about losing your seat 4) You get both the Red and Blue streams that can be watched at the same time 5) During downtime you don't have to sit around, you can play SC2 or literally anything else.
Again, I'm not saying the event experience is bad because there is certainly something to be said for being able to ask your favorite player for an autograph or just be in a crowd of hardcore SC2 fans, however since MLG has done such an excellent job of enhancing the home viewer experience, I'm going to pass on MLG Olrando.
I think professional sports are running into the same kind of problem. The home viewing experience is so good these days that it really makes it hard to justify going to a game. This isn't a bad thing either. MLG has a much greater opportunity to reach fans online rather than in the towns their events are held. Having a fantastic viewer experience will enhance esports in general which we can all agree is a very good thing.
I'm really looking forward to watching MLG Orlando on my gold pass from home. We get the Google+ Hangout going with people from all over the world watching together. If only there was a BarCraft in Miami!!!
He wants your address so he can steal your seat while you go to the bathroom.
I partially agree after having been to MLG Anaheim. It was a lot of fun to hang out with friends and watch Starcraft but the whole seating issue was pretty terrible. They needed to have almost twice the number of seats as there were so many people standing around after every match and the seat-saving was just out of control. =/
On September 22 2011 06:06 gurrpp wrote: Full mlg experience for me: stay at home, wear no pants, eat hot pockets, and watch two streams at the same time.
The dual stream link from the last MLG event was the best thing man has invented since the mono-stream. In other words it was pretty good. Also for people living in Europe the distance and money thing is the real issue that stops people from traveling over seas for such an event, even tho I wouldn't mind to visit it live at least once in my lifetime. But yeah, anyways I have to agree that the viewing from home part isn't that bad.
There's like 5,000+ other reasons to go though. imo you aren't truly experiencing MLG if you aren't meeting and hanging out with all the awesome nerds there. If you're that concerned about watching every game then I guess you'd be better served staying home but the social aspect of meeting so many people who share a passion for this thing that maybe a handful of the people you know at home like is really underrated. For me that's a much larger draw for going to future MLGs as a spectator than viewing the games live at the venue. The downtime is half the fun!
Bitch, 3 hours? I drove 1400+ miles to Anaheim from Texas over the course of 3 days.
The experience is amazing. I'm so glad I went to Anaheim over Raleigh (from watching the stream). Lack of chairs was annoying, but the crowd was amazing. You could literally feel the passion as people stood up for nukes, chanted MMA's name hoping he'd defend his title, and various other moments. It was great shaking hands with IdrA, Day9, DJWheat, and many other famous SC2 players and personalities. I love my signed shirts.
Being at home is nice - sure. It's a nice, comfortable thing but when you're in the middle of the crowd, cheering Boxer as he comes out victorious from his game to get into the semi's, turning towards that stranger next to you you don't know at all and giving a big ol' high five and cheering - pretty fucking amazing.
Don't knock the experience. It's the same atmosphere as going to a sports game - all the passion, all the hype, and the bragging rights of saying "I was there when that happened".
On September 22 2011 06:06 gurrpp wrote: Full mlg experience for me: stay at home, wear no pants, eat hot pockets, and watch two streams at the same time.
Dude, if there was an MLG 3 hours from me I would be there in a second. The down time and having so many other people that love SC there that you lose your seat is the funnest part! A lot of your negatives are positives for me. I would definitely go.
EPT
